The family of a beloved Hinckley public figure have blasted a hospital after they only discovered he had cancer when they spotted the diagnosis in his discharge notes.

Former chairman of the Hinckley Chamber of Trade George Thacker died at the Leicester Royal Infirmary in June 2012, aged 68.

But just days earlier he had been discharged from hospital only for his daughter Angie Winchester to discover that he had stage four lung cancer after she read his notes.

George’s family reported his shocking treatment to the parliamentary ombudsmen after he died in the city centre hospital.

In the report just released, entitled Dying Without Dignity, officials labelled the case as “appalling”.

The hospital trust in charge of Mr Thacker’s case said it was deeply sorry, although it accepted that the findings of the report were accurate.

Angie, from Burbage, said that she “wouldn’t wish this on my own worst enemy”.

She added: “Dad was discharged from the hospital and they said no further action needed, that he should go to the GP if his chest pains continued.

“Obviously his discharge note said otherwise. It was all medical jargon, but we looked it up online and it turned out he had stage four lung cancer, and when he saw the GP he confirmed it for us.

“It was an awful weekend, I’ll never forget it, we had to go and tell mum and dad and we just felt shocking disbelief.”

George sadly passed away just 12 weeks after they read the notes.

But his last days in the hospital have since been slammed by both the report and by Angie, who described his care as “non-existent”.

Two months after the diagnosis, George was admitted back to hospital because he had difficulty breathing. They then discovered that the cancer had spread to his bones and brain.

Leicester Royal Infirmary

But despite the diagnosis staff at Leicester Royal took Mr Thacker off his pain medication, which Angie said left him feeling suicidal.

She added: “We thought his care in the hospital would be OK as it was supposed to be one-to-one, but he had trouble breathing, chest pains, yet they took him off pain medication and didn’t replace it.

“This left him severely agitated, confused and in terrible pain.

“We were all desperately trying to get hold of someone, but we were running round like headless chickens, there was just no one.

“By this time dad was in so much pain he was trying to climb out the window, threatening to commit suicide, screaming on the wards, and nothing could calm him down.”

Eventually, after meetings with hospital staff, Mr Thacker received a morphine injection and was due to transfer to Loros. However, he died the same evening.

The report came after the family approached the parliamentary ombudsman and fought for three years to have their voices heard. Earlier this week, the report was finally published and upheld.

University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust have admitted that George’s family should not have found out about the diagnosis the way they did.

They also said that Mr Thacker, who is referred to as Mr J in the report, should have received appropriate pain relief.

Rosie Bronnert, palliative medicine consultant at the trust, said: “We recognise this aspect of our service must improve and our staff must better understand the significant stress and impact communicating this news by a discharge letter causes.”

Angie added: “Since we spoke out, we have had some lovely comments from people, which has been rewarding.

“However, this should never have happened.

“It was horrible, and I will never forget that picture of dad in the hospital in such pain – it’s now the only memory I have got of him.

“At first we were dealing with the shock of diagnosis, but then watching him suffer and pass away so suddenly as we were told he had one to two years left was so hard.

“My mum really struggled with it and is still struggling with it now, they were together for 40 years.”